STOCKTON - In the space of a few weeks in October and early November, Stockton Unified's police force was thrust into the news after incidents involving guns at three of the district's campuses.

Less high-profile, however, is the force's role earlier this month in a drug bust that netted more than $100,000 worth of marijuana and resulted in the arrest of a 17-year-old Edison High School student.

Unlike the gun incidents, the marijuana bust occurred during non-school hours and off-campus. Jim West, the Stockton Unified chief, said the bust illustrates the benefits of having his force operating and patrolling seven days a week, 24 hours a day.

"Some people suggest we should only police on the campus itself," West said this week. "But the campus is not distinct from the community in which it's located. We find trespassers all the time at night and on the weekends on our campuses."

The drug bust began as a traffic stop shortly after 9 p.m. on Nov. 3, a Saturday. Officer Michael Hitchcock and officer-trainee Jonathan Johnson were patrolling near Edison High when they noticed a car driving around without its headlights or taillights on. They stopped the car at Hunter and First streets, two blocks east of the high school.

The details of the arrest come from Hitchcock, who has been an officer for three years:

The driver, a 17-year-old male, said when asked that he did not have a driver's license, and volunteered the information that he was in possession of one ounce of marijuana. He also consented to a search of his car.

The search netted nine Mason jars: seven jars in the trunk that were empty except for traces of marijuana residue and two in a backpack in the backseat filled with the ounce of marijuana. The officers also found a scale and 11 marijuana brownies.

The driver was read his Miranda rights, at which point he admitted he was an Edison student and a dealer at the school. The officers brought him to his home, where he lived with his parents and siblings.

The boy consented to a search of his room, where the officers found equipment to grow marijuana, as well as ammunition for four different types of handguns. His mother then allowed the officers to look in the house and backyard.

Peering into a shed with a flashlight, the officers saw close to 50 jars of various sizes filled with marijuana. The father agreed to unlock the shed. The jackpot: 20.55 pounds of marijuana. Stockton police officers were called in to lend their expertise in the confiscation.

The boy, whose name is being withheld because of his age, was arrested on a variety of charges and taken to juvenile hall. The father, who had an invalid medical-marijuana identification card, was not arrested but his case was referred to the San Joaquin County District Attorney for possible prosecution.

West said it was the largest drug bust his officers have made in his more than five years running the force.

"It was quite an operation the kid had going there," West said.

Most of the work done by Stockton Unified officers during non-school hours is much less dramatic. Off-hour calls to campuses generally fall into two categories, West said. Vandalism is one. The other is burglaries, with thieves looking for computers, other electronic gear and copper.

West said his roughly 15 officers respond to calls that city officers most likely would have to bypass because they are occupied policing Stockton's violent crime.

The marijuana bust was just such an example, West said. As it happened, it had a direct benefit for Stockton Unified by removing an alleged marijuana dealer from the Edison campus.